Search Privacy Violations, Breaches and Complaints
This database was last updated in December 2015 ago and should only be used as a historical snapshot. More recent data on breaches affecting 500 or more people is available at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Breach Portal.
VA Health Care Upstate New York (VISN 2)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on April 27, 2012. Also cited in 132 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000074757, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 02 Syracuse, NY
Issue:
Patient A called the Bath Pharmacy stating that he received a hard copy prescription via mail. This hard copy prescription was not for him. It was for Patient B, but was mistakenly mailed to the wrong patient. Patient A was able to identify the name of the patient, the date of birth, and patient address. He was not able to identify the medication, supply, or order that the prescription was for. He was also unable to identify who wrote the prescription. It appears that Patient B had requested a prescription to be filled at a community pharmacy by the Syracuse Neurologist. The Bath VA Pharmacy staff instructed Patient A to mail the hard copy prescription to the Bath VA Pharmacy. Update: 04/27/12:Patient B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services. His name and date of birth were disclosed.
Outcome:
Administrative Officer met with the staff and advised them that they need to use 2 patient identifiers when sending correspondence outside of the medical center. She could not identify the specific employee who had mailed the information in error to the wrong employee so educated all staff in the department.